Innovation in Practice
| Readers Talk About Experiences and Measures | Current question to the reader |
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»What does innovation mean to you, and what do you do in your company to promote innovation?«
»Austrian companies are among the most open towards innovation in European comparison«, says Walter Koren, Director of Foreign Trade Austria of the WKO (Austrian Chamber of Commerce). As an example, directed support takes place with the »Econovius«, »a special award of the Chamber of Commerce for exemplatory innovation produced by small or medium-sized companies.«
For Günter Thumser, as president of Henkel CEE, the basis of all action is market research, because »innovation is not possible without considering customer wishes – the so called ›consumer insights‹«. »In parallel it is however also always immensely necessary to tap further think tanks and build up networks. At Henkel we successfully included our employees in this process of change with the ›Year of Innovation‹, and in addition the cooperation with universities and other research institutions is intensified«, says Thumser.
Also Erich Gnad, Director Mergers & Acquisitions and Manager of mobilkom Beteiligungsgesellschaft, relies on external cooperation for innovation. He states that customers in his branch are very sensitive to price, and thus, innovation is not sufficiently honored. This is why »the passage ›Innovation Leader‹ is cancelled from the mission statement« and »a contract is concluded with the branch leader Vodafone«, in order to utilize their products increasingly. |
Do you want to talk about the practices in your company in the next Management Mailer? The question to the reader regarding the issue expansion is : »What have been your most incisive experiences in the framework of international----ization?«
We are looking forward to your input!
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Achim Hartmann, Director Finance Planning of the Bank Austria Creditanstalt, meets the constant process of change with »curiosity and courage«. Thus, he encourages the employees in the team to »see each process of change as a chance, and realize the potentials it carries«.
»Keeping tried and tested practices and strategies«, »keeping distance to not tried and tested processes«, and »developing new strategies and practices«: annual workshops in his field of business belong to a »regular screening« of processes for Klaus Scheitz, Director Real Estate Financing in the Investkredit Bank. The results are evaluated in specific project work.
Also at ICI Paints Deco »a clear management process was created that enables management of innovation, and at the same time ensures that the pipeline of ideas and projects is always full«, says Michael Weinrother, Regional Managing Director Decorative Paints.
»Not constantly projecting problems of the past into the present, but rather having a forward solution-oriented view, and actively shaping the future« is what Johann Gneist, Gneist Consulting Team says innovation means to him.
And Mark Macqueen as Director Innovation of the furniture company Svoboda profits from a change of awareness: »The companies are increasingly perceiving the employees as their most important resource«, because »payments for office equipment that only amount to a percentage of the wage costs usually allow an increase of productivity in the two-digit percent range«.
